Directions:Briefly describe the case for the rest of the class -- the situation and the problems involved. Then, using your knowledge of responding effectively to student writing, pose possible alternatives for the teacher's actions that might have resulted in more positive results for the student, the teacher, and the rest of the class.
Post responses below...
Situation: Dick is a teacher who rejects the process method as well as believes that the best way to teach is to be blunt and critical, as well as to give them short assignments with little time to write them. He assigns his students to write about a hobby which they are familiar with, and one of them, Wes, begins asking about the assignment and is cut off. Later, Dick reads his assignment and gives him a D, mostly for stylistic and paragraph based errors. After class, Wes attempts to speak with him, saying that Dick does not understand the reason for Wes' stylistic choices, and that Wes was attempting to copy the quick, more abrupt style that appeared in the racing magazines that he enjoyed.
Even though Dick might not see a value in the process method of teaching, one of the ways that he could have better responded to the Wes, would have been for him to communicate more effectively with Wes. When the assignment was mentioned, Wes wished to ask Dick some questions about the assignment, and Dick likely should have decided to listen to those questions, so as to better understand what Wes was planning on doing. Had he done that, he would have been able to give the information that Wes needed in order to gain a good idea of what was expected of him. Another thing that Dick could have done was, rather than just giving Wes a D, calling him to his office and asking Wes what he was attempting to do with his paper. Since the fundamental problem seems to lie in the fact that there is too little communication that exists between teacher and student, it seems that by having conferences with Wes, or allowing Wes to ask questions, Dick would likely get a far better result from him.
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Some alternative responses with rationale:
First, Dick might consider offering fewer, longer pieces of writing. Prewriting, revision, research, editing--these are all essential parts of the writing process that a break-neck pace neglects. This would mean giving Wes time to choose a topic as well as an opportunity to revise the "D" paper.
Second, Wes might benefit more if Dick spent more effort on analyzing content and genre instead of grammar and style. Wes appears to be imitating pieces of short journalism. Dick ignores this decision and the benefits and drawbacks of such an approach. By offering only stylistic advice mostly specific to an academic essay, the teacher fails to teach a broad set of ideas about genre rules and writerly function. (Of course, if Dick allowed for multiple drafts engaged with both editing and revision, it might be easier to address both mode and style!)
Third, Dick should consider offering criticism more judiciously. Students can only respond to a limited number of ideas within a given draft: teachers should highlight the most important areas for improvement. In this situation, Dick highlights every nitpick in a way that is overwhelming and depressing to process even as a third party graduate student.
Fourth and on a related note, Dick appropriately praises Wes for his choice of topic, but such praise makes up a vanishingly small proportion of the overall product. Students seek positively reinforcing situations and run from those that are punishing. When the result of writing is overwhelmingly critical, writing becomes a dreadful chore to avoid. Because of this, Dick should consider not only reducing the amount of criticism per draft but also increasing the proportion of praise to criticism. I am not suggesting that the teacher should lie to shield Wes's feelings, of course, but surely there is a middle-ground between sugar-coated paeans to student writing and Dick's fury and hellfire?
Finally and perhaps most importantly, Dick should or spend time listening to Wes. Because Dick maintains such a high-intensity schedule, he has no time to make expectations clear, to hear Wes's ideas, or to offer feedback during the process of writing. Dick has to write the entire paper before he gets a word of feedback from the teacher. This is the case even though Wes specifically approached Dick both before and after writing with questions about his approach. If Dick set aside some time for conferencing, he would have been able to understand Wes's purpose for writing, his choice, and the teacher would have been able to warn Dick off of potential pitfalls. This approach would not only have possibly avoided the D grade--it would have established a relationship between the teacher and student that would have allowed Dick to offer more meaningful writerly help.
Directions: Briefly describe the case for the rest of the class -- the situation and the problems involved. Then, using your knowledge of responding effectively to student writing, pose possible alternatives for the teacher's actions that might have resulted in more positive results for the student, the teacher, and the rest of the class.
Post responses below...Situation: Dick is a teacher who rejects the process method as well as believes that the best way to teach is to be blunt and critical, as well as to give them short assignments with little time to write them. He assigns his students to write about a hobby which they are familiar with, and one of them, Wes, begins asking about the assignment and is cut off. Later, Dick reads his assignment and gives him a D, mostly for stylistic and paragraph based errors. After class, Wes attempts to speak with him, saying that Dick does not understand the reason for Wes' stylistic choices, and that Wes was attempting to copy the quick, more abrupt style that appeared in the racing magazines that he enjoyed.
Even though Dick might not see a value in the process method of teaching, one of the ways that he could have better responded to the Wes, would have been for him to communicate more effectively with Wes. When the assignment was mentioned, Wes wished to ask Dick some questions about the assignment, and Dick likely should have decided to listen to those questions, so as to better understand what Wes was planning on doing. Had he done that, he would have been able to give the information that Wes needed in order to gain a good idea of what was expected of him. Another thing that Dick could have done was, rather than just giving Wes a D, calling him to his office and asking Wes what he was attempting to do with his paper. Since the fundamental problem seems to lie in the fact that there is too little communication that exists between teacher and student, it seems that by having conferences with Wes, or allowing Wes to ask questions, Dick would likely get a far better result from him.
.
Some alternative responses with rationale:
First, Dick might consider offering fewer, longer pieces of writing. Prewriting, revision, research, editing--these are all essential parts of the writing process that a break-neck pace neglects. This would mean giving Wes time to choose a topic as well as an opportunity to revise the "D" paper.
Second, Wes might benefit more if Dick spent more effort on analyzing content and genre instead of grammar and style. Wes appears to be imitating pieces of short journalism. Dick ignores this decision and the benefits and drawbacks of such an approach. By offering only stylistic advice mostly specific to an academic essay, the teacher fails to teach a broad set of ideas about genre rules and writerly function. (Of course, if Dick allowed for multiple drafts engaged with both editing and revision, it might be easier to address both mode and style!)
Third, Dick should consider offering criticism more judiciously. Students can only respond to a limited number of ideas within a given draft: teachers should highlight the most important areas for improvement. In this situation, Dick highlights every nitpick in a way that is overwhelming and depressing to process even as a third party graduate student.
Fourth and on a related note, Dick appropriately praises Wes for his choice of topic, but such praise makes up a vanishingly small proportion of the overall product. Students seek positively reinforcing situations and run from those that are punishing. When the result of writing is overwhelmingly critical, writing becomes a dreadful chore to avoid. Because of this, Dick should consider not only reducing the amount of criticism per draft but also increasing the proportion of praise to criticism. I am not suggesting that the teacher should lie to shield Wes's feelings, of course, but surely there is a middle-ground between sugar-coated paeans to student writing and Dick's fury and hellfire?
Finally and perhaps most importantly, Dick should or spend time listening to Wes. Because Dick maintains such a high-intensity schedule, he has no time to make expectations clear, to hear Wes's ideas, or to offer feedback during the process of writing. Dick has to write the entire paper before he gets a word of feedback from the teacher. This is the case even though Wes specifically approached Dick both before and after writing with questions about his approach. If Dick set aside some time for conferencing, he would have been able to understand Wes's purpose for writing, his choice, and the teacher would have been able to warn Dick off of potential pitfalls. This approach would not only have possibly avoided the D grade--it would have established a relationship between the teacher and student that would have allowed Dick to offer more meaningful writerly help.